Being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is a death sentence for most people. Almost 38,000 people are diagnosed each year and the survival rate is only about five percent.

The University of Minnesota wants to help change that by recruiting top doctors and doing new research to become a world leader in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

One man says it’s already saved his life.

At 67-years-old, John Trueman’s been fighting pancreatic cancer for almost two years and just doesn't have the energy to do things he used to love.

Dr. Selwyn Vicker's ultimate goal is to cure pancreatic cancer. But first he wants to give patents with little hope of survival a chance to live a longer more meaningful life.

The ‘U’ hired Vicker in 2006 because of his reputation as a top researcher and surgeon.

"I've had a long interest in both patients and the disease of pancreatic cancer," Vicker said.

He and the team of researchers at the school’s Masonic Cancer Center are attacking the disease in three ways—they're working to develop drugs, researching what causes it and how to prevent it, and performing surgeries.

Trueman’s first doctor recommended surgery at the ‘U.’

"There are two people in town who are good at and one is Dr. Vickers," Trueman said.

Vickers performed a whipple procedure which is the resection of the pancreas or med term—most of the pancreas is removed along with part of the stomach, small intestine, and gallbladder.

It helped Trueman, but his cancer still came back—so he's still fighting it.

"I don't know how long we can do this, but I feel good about a year or two years anyway," Trueman said.

The ‘U’ is also leading the way on gene therapy. They use the common cold virus and manipulate it to target and kill cancer cells and should start testing it on patients with in a year.